The program will be based in Peru's capital city. A city of 8,000,000, with extensive neighborhoods sprawling outside the traditional and business centers, Lima area has been the center of key cultural developments in the Americas since 5,000 years before the appearance of the Inca Empire, and later, together with Mexico, the center of Spanish dominion in colonial times. The program will also include two extended stays in the Northern coast (based in Trujillo) and Southern highlands (based in Cusco). Stays in Lima and in those areas (and shorter trips to other sites) will allow students to observe the differing sides and the contradictions and paradoxes of modernization in a "third-world" setting. The program's primary objective is to create conditions for the students to reflect on such reality and the cultural artifacts created by the peoples of Peru.

FACULTY DIRECTOR

José Cerna Bazán, Professor of Spanish

Professor Bazán grew up in Peru's northern highlands before moving to Lima, where he obtained his B.A and licenciatura at the National University of San Marcos, and later to Minnesota for his doctoral studies. His research and teaching focus on contemporary Spanish American literature and culture, the representation of social processes, and the relationship between literary experimentation, popular culture, and multicultural contexts. He has previously led several Spanish programs in Mexico.